


How to be human

by imokipromise



Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, again very very gay, cute soyeon, mimin and sooshu are side ships, sweet yuqi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 18:28:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30009108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imokipromise/pseuds/imokipromise
Summary: A girl is kept away, hidden from everything and everyone. She has little to no knowledge about most stuff. Her world is a black void to basement, with no company but herself. One day, she decides to escape the basement, and she meets Song Yuqi. A bubbly school girl with a big heart. Can Yuqi teach the girl what it's like to be human?
Relationships: Cho Miyeon/Minnie Nicha Yontararak, Jeon Soyeon/Song Yuqi, Seo Soojin/Yeh Shuhua
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	How to be human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i’ve had this idea in my head for a while, and i finally decided to get it out! it will be mostly fluff, but may be a little angsty too.  
> it’s also yuyeon focused, but there will be sooshu and mimin as well.
> 
> WARNINGS: death, blood.
> 
> Rated M for violence.
> 
> enjoy!

In a small house on a small street lived a woman. Whether she was small or not, was not important. In fact, it didn’t matter what she looked like, how she talked, what she liked. What mattered was what she kept hidden in her basement. The biggest secret of all, some may say.   
You see, this woman didn’t live alone in her small house. She had an ambitious husband, and a handsome son. That they were perfect family was frequently uttered to them. The woman just smiled and nodded each time, while her mind drifted to their house’s lowest floor. 

On the ground floor in the house was a locked door, leading into a slim room with nothing but steps leading down to darkness. The woman unlocked the door once or twice a day, with a candle in one hand and a plate in the other. The wax was dripping as the woman made her way down the old and creaking wooden steps. She felt it meet her hand, and let out a hiss as she bit her teeth hard. Her oxford shoes clicked each time she took a step further down, revealing that she was getting closer and closer. 

The bloody meat on the plate was moving in its own fat, leaving a yellow trace behind it. The peas rolled around from side to side, getting dipped in the fat and the cow’s blood, before rolling back to rest in the clump of overcooked rice. 

The candle lit up the way as she went, giving light to the dusty, stone floor. It smelled like soil and old clothes, infiltrating the woman’s nose so that she had to hold her breath for a couple of seconds, before taking a deep breath in and out, and then hold her breath again. Dripping of water could be heard in the distance, and if she were to light the candle towards the roof, she would’ve seen the big, grey circles colouring the brown, that once was white. 

Her steps became slower and slower, as she got closer to the corner of the room. Then, she stopped. She let out a huff as she bent down to put the candle on the cardboard box, before standing right back up again. The woman waited for a few seconds, before something started moving behind the light. She heard ruffling, some heavy breathing, before a black and messy head showed up in her vision. 

“Mother.” muttered a girl with a croaking voice. It was more than obvious that she hadn’t been using it for hours, as it was raspy and unstable. Her letters wavered out of her mouth. 

The mother smiled the faintest bit, and reached her hand out to the unwashed hair. She did however regret it halfway, and changed direction for the girl’s face. The light was dimmed, and only lit up one side of the girl’s face. But a black cat-eye was visible, hidden in sockets behind a thick layer of dark, tired skin. There was a certain innocence in the globe, one that the mother had seen since day one. The one that kept her alive. 

Slender fingers wrapped around the sharp shin. The high cheekbones were visible under pale skin. The younger girl had opened her eyes big, anticipating what her mother would tell her. But the woman only smiled, before squeezing her finger down on the cheek, causing the corners of the daughter’s mouth to tilt upwards. It was only a faint smile, as if she was unsure if she was doing it right. Her lips flickered quickly, exposing her uncertainty. The mother’s eyes searched the younger’s face, before letting go. She lowered the plate down towards her daughter, and watched as the small hands grabbed it. It soon disappeared into the darkness together with the little body, as some shuffling of sheets were heard. Soon, there was sounds of a fork meeting the plate, before a mouth opened. It smacked as the young girl ate. The mother stayed by her, listening as the food went down her throat. 

“Thank you, mother.” the girl said with a mouthful of rice in her mouth. She chewed openly, making all kinds of sauces drip from the side of her lip. And she often found herself bringing up the same piece of food to her mouth several times, as it fell out over and over again. 

Then, the daughter stopped with her loud chewing and swallowing, making the mother think she was done with the food. But as she looked into the dark void, she could see the hand tightly holding onto the cutlery, and how the meat still rested in the fat. The young girl tilted her head up, and the mother couldn’t see her face in the dark, but she could hear the quiet stuttering, indicating that she was trying to word her thoughts. 

“What is it, sweetie?” the mother asked. She brought her hand forward, for her daughter to hold. The younger did however not take it in her own. 

“May I have some water, mother?” she asked instead, her voice stopping between each and every word. She had to purse her lips to get the sound right at each letter, and it was visible that the girl didn’t enjoy it. 

“Of course.” the older smiled. She wondered if she should leave the plate with the girl, to make sure she didn’t choke on her food. But the mother figured her daughter had been eating for eighteen years, and she had never choked. “Wait here, sweetie. I’ll return quickly.” 

The girl nodded, although it wasn’t seen by her mother. She kept the fork close to the plate, before using both flatware and squeezed them down into the meat. Blood streamed out from it to join the fat on the plate, surely going over the edge to stain the girl’s sweats. She didn’t react however, and instead brought the fork to her mouth before biting down into it. The texture was chewy, except the brown parts that felt like over chewed rice in her mouth. She frowned as she swallowed hard. The girl didn’t like meat, but that was what she was served. 

When movements could be heard from the stairs, the girl let go of the fork and placed it down on the mattress together with the plate. It was placed on the side, so that the sauces were poured onto the blanket, but the girl was too busy trying to stand up on her shaky legs to notice. She hadn’t stood up in days, and it was evident on her body as she had to stretch each limb. She played with her fingers in her free hand for a short while, before taking a step forward. The floor was cold, too cold against her bare foot, causing her to quickly pull her foot back. She considered sitting back down before her mother came back, but she quickly scratched the idea and let her toes touch the floor again. The second soon followed, and she felt shivers from her feet to her head as she took a step forward. The girl made sure to remember that she shouldn’t sit down for that long again. She took another unsteady step forward, as she heard the mother take the first step down the stairs. Her back exclaimed a scream as she turned to the side, and lowered herself towards the candle. With one breath, the only light source had disappeared. But the girl was used to the darkness, so she could tell her place very well. 

“Wha-“ the mother let out as she had no light to follow. No, the older woman had not spent eighteen years in this basement, she could not see without light. “Sweetie, what are you doing?” the mother asked as she fought her way down the stairs by tapping with her foot in front of her before she took a step down. Her hand also raised to the wall on the side, to keep herself stable. “Did you blow out the candle, sweetie?” 

The girl stayed put, squeezing her hand harder as each second went by. She didn’t have much muscle, making even the smallest object heavy to hold for a longer period of time. 

“No worry, mother. I will take care of you.” she uttered in a voice the mother hadn’t ever heard before. It sounded happy, calm and steady, but there was something hidden, something the mother couldn’t figure out. 

The echoing of the steps soon stopped, as the woman was down on the floor. She felt a sudden shiver down her back, and hugged the glass tighter in her hand. Maybe it was the cold room around her that made her back creep. Or maybe it was the fact that she had no awareness of her surroundings, other than the breath hitting her shoulder, indicating that her daughter was right beside her. 

“How did the light go out, sweetie?” she asked, her voice changing between several notes as she let out quick breaths with the words. “Did you blow it out?” 

The woman was close to jumping out of her body when she felt the small, cold hand meet the clothing covering her arm. However, the hand only squeezed her arm, before sliding further up to her shoulder. 

“What are you doing?” the mother asked, feeling the hand meet her neck, before going even further up to her cheek. Her breathing became even quicker, as the other’s breath came closer. “You should sit back down.” the mother said while trying to shift away from the hand, but it took a hold of her cheek, making her unable to move further. 

“No worry.” said the younger. Her voice now stern and hard, making the mother desperate to back away. “Mother is safe.” she said, before lifting her hand and shoving it into the globe she made out to be the eye, and pulling it out as her mother screamed in pain. 

The older woman quickly backed up, bringing her hands to the stream of blood. The back of her legs met the steps of the stairs, making her fall down against them. She could however not focus on the sudden pain in her back, as her eye sent electrifying pain through her entire body. She screamed over and over again, out of pain and worry what her daughter would do next. She got her answer when she felt a stab in her side, making her bend over that way, before there was another stab in her stomach. The mother couldn’t focus on the pain anymore, as she threw up right in front of her, before falling down, her head meeting the floor. She let out whines, trying to hug each part of her that hurt, but the pain got overwhelming. Not even the sounds could ease it. 

“Mother,” the daughter started, before creeping down to her head, and placed her lips against the sweaty forehead. The mother couldn’t even think of moving away, as she quickly drifted away. “Goodnight.” 

The daughter stayed near the face for a minute, before she saw her mother’s eye close. She smiled, before kissing her again. 

The steps of the stairs squeaked like they usually did when the mother was making her way down, but now it was the daughter heading up. She had to use all fours to feel steady, those planks were too thin for her to walk on with just her feet. The arms were quickly starting to hurt, but she managed to make her way to the door, which she held onto tightly as she stood up straight. Her back screamed as she raised, but she chose to ignore it and instead focused on how to get the door open. She couldn’t push it open, which mean she had to pull. But the door was flat, what was she supposed to hold onto? 

She then noticed the grey lever to her right. She carefully reached her hand to it, and felt that it was just as cold as the floor. Now she knew the floor wasn’t dangerous even though it made her feet hurt, surely it was the same with the lever. The girl took a hold on it, and it seemed to be wanting to go down, so she followed it, and the door opened with a high scream. 

The girl’s eyes quickly shut, feeling an awful sting. She used the back on both of her hands to make the sting go away, but it seemed like it came back each time she tried to open her eyes. Instead, she chose to keep a hand over one of her eyes, as she opened the other. She had to fight through the pain, as she saw a wall in front of her. She couldn’t however make out more of her surroundings, as all she could see was white. It was like she was looking right into a candle, but the candle’s light never shifted from blue to white to yellow. 

With a breath, the girl took a step up, never letting go of the door as she did. Now there was only one step left, but the girl was able to peek her head out of the door. At first, she could only see the white light, but then, it started to disappear more and more, until she could see walls on each side of her. She took the last step up, holding tightly to the door. Her eyes stung, making water creep out. The water helped the sting go away quicker, and the girl noted that for future reference. 

She reluctantly let go of the door as she took a step into the slim room with walls on each side. Her feet met something warmer than the stone, something brown and shiny. It was more slippery as well, and the girl could slide over it instead of lifting her legs. To one side of her was an opening, leading into a bigger room. To her other side was another door, and in front of her was a wall, but it wasn’t the same colour as the walls behind her. It was…warmer, but colder at the same time. The girl felt something shift in her chest when she looked at it, so she reached her hand forward to touch it, because it was a nice feeling and she wanted more, but she quickly stopped when she saw the liquid on her hand. She studied it, making her fingers meet before separating them again. The liquid seemed wet, like water, but thicker, like sauce. It reminded her of what left her meat earlier, but stickier. When she touched the wall, the liquid on her hand stained it. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be on her hands, because it made other stuff dirty. What she needed was water. 

The girl took a step, and another few steps, towards the big room. There was a table and chairs to one side, looking like they did in the pictures her mother had showed her when she was younger. When she shifted her head to the other side, she could see another table of some kind. But it was a table in a strange shape, having a big hole in the middle. There were also several boxes above the table, and a lot of stuff placed on it. She decided to walk towards it, entering through an opening in the table, until she was standing right in the middle. The girl made a swirl, and was lucky to catch a drop fall right in front of her. Drops meant water, she knew that from the way the water leaked out of her glass if she placed it unsteadily on her mattress. So, she took a step towards it, catching another drop. The water seemed to be kept in the shiny metal, now she just had to figure out how to get it out. She lowered her body, placing her head right underneath where the drops fell, and it met her face. She shivered as she felt the cold, bringing her head back up again. The girl studied the crane, before her mind went back to the door. She touched the lever when she wanted to get out, maybe there was a lever to get the water out. And there was. Just by the end of the shiny, was a lever. The girl reached out to it, letting it go the way it wanted. She became startled again when the sound of a flow started, and looked to her side where white liquid was leaving the metal. 

It didn’t take the girl much longer before she placed both her hands underneath the water, feeling something jump in her chest as it moved over her skin. She liked this feeling too, a lot. But she remembered that her goal was to go out to the trees, not stay in this confined place. After letting the water clean her arms and face, she dried them on her grey sweatshirt, making the fabric darker. 

The girl started walking towards the door she saw before. Not the one she came from, but the one to her side. It was bigger, and it had parts on it that looked invisible. She couldn’t reach her hand through the invisible, as it was stopped with a loud thud, but she could see the trees outside. The girl smiled as she saw the leaves, which her mother had taught her they were called, move from side to side. It was darker outside by the trees than it was inside by the door, and the girl preferred the dark. The dark didn’t make her eyes hurt. 

She touched the lever again, and the door opened with a click. The girl smiled at her victory. Now she knew for sure that the lever always helps things escape. She walked outside, much quicker now as she wanted to get closer to the trees. The air met her face, made her hair flow back as she quickened her steps. The ground was almost as cold as the stone in the room, but not quite. But it looked like the same kind of grey and felt the same. Only, this stone hurt more because it had small bumps, no bigger than her peas, all over it. 

But then, her feet touched something soft. It didn’t feel like her mattress. And it tickled under her feet, but she still continued forward. She didn’t know how many steps she’d taken, until she finally had one of the big trees right in front of her. 

It was so much taller than herself, going up all the way to the sky. At least the girl thought it did. She took one step closer, before placing her hands on the coloured material. It was hard and cold, fascinating the girl even more when she saw movement inside it. Her eyes were glued to the tiny, black dots running around, and never even noticed the sound of footsteps getting closer to her. She was too focused on what was in front of her, that her mind shut out whatever happened around her. 

That is, until the movement around her had stopped. The girl got a strange feeling in her chest, as if someone was watching her. She acted on a natural instinct, which was to quickly turn around. She didn’t stumble back, nor did she scream, when she saw the short girl facing her. 

The girl studied the other’s face, seeing a cute round nose and cheeks, and short hair around it. The stranger’s hair was a little lighter than her own, and it was a lot shinier. 

“Do you need help?” the other spoke, making the girl frown. Help, that meant to do something for someone. Most often, it meant her mom helping her clean her sheets. Why did a stranger want to clean her sheets? 

“Clean?” the girl asked, her voice raspy as it once again had been some time since she spoke. 

“Clean? Do you want to clean yourself?” the other girl asked, taking a step closer. “Can I help you home so that you can get clean there?” 

The girl knew home. Home was where she lived, where her mother, father and brother lived. When her father was home, her mother had to hurry with giving the girl her food. The girl preferred when her father wasn’t home, when she had more time with her mother. But right now, she didn’t want to go home. She wanted to see more trees, she wanted to figure out what those small, black things were. 

“No.” she said. “No home.” 

“You don’t have a home?” the other asked. Her head tilted to the side, making the girl’s head follow and do the same. “Do you have a name?” the stranger’s eyebrows raised. Name? The girl didn’t know name. And the other girl must’ve realised her confusion, as she pointed to herself with a finger. “My name is Song Yuqi.” she said before pointing at the girl. “What is your name?” 

The girl’s hand followed Yuqi’s, pointing at herself. 

“Me?” the girl muttered, as Yuqi shook her head with a wide smile. The girl mimicked how the corners of the mouth went up, and did the same with her own. “Me…” she muttered. 

“Me, Yuqi.” the girl repeated. “You?” 

The girl realised that the stranger was called Yuqi, just like mother was mother, father was father and brother was brother. Now, what did that make the girl? 

“Me…” she muttered again, keeping her finger pointed at herself. “Me sweetie.” she said, remembering what her mother had called her since she was smaller. 

“Your name is Sweetie?” Yuqi asked, furrowing her brows. “I think sweetie is your nickname. What is your actual name?” The girl once again followed Yuqi’s face, squeezing her face as the other stared at her. “How about… How about we call you Soyeon? As in actress Lee Soyeon?” Yuqi smiled, and the girl, Soyeon, of course mimicked it. The girl somehow smiled even wider, making Soyeon question just how wide the girl could go. “Soyeon it is then. 

Yuqi’s eyes for the first time left Soyeon’s face, eyeing down the dirty sweater and sweatpants. Now that Soyeon thought about it, the other girl’s clothes had much fewer stains than her own. They also looked brighter, cleaner. And Yuqi must’ve thought of it as well, as her eyes stayed on Soyeon’s clothes. 

“Do you want to come with me?” they girl asked. “You could shower and lend some clothes from me, before we figure out where you come from.” 

Yuqi smiled again, and Soyeon followed her. She only understood a small number of those words, and had no clue what the girl wanted her to do. But the girl had pretty, shiny hair and a cute nose. Soyeon wanted to look at her for a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> write thoughts, questions and whatever you want in the comments!
> 
> twitter: @elisaisokiswear  
> curiouscat: @elisaisokiswear


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